Overwatch League Week 3, Day 1 Recap

“Improvement” was the keyword for the Dragons’ performance against Dynasty, resulting in an unexpected map score. Meanwhile, the Shock took on the Spitfire in an exciting series and the second Battle of LA closed out the night for the first day of Week 3.

Think you missed something? Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered below:

San Francisco Shock vs London Spitfire

Spitfire wins, 1-3

Eichenwalde: Spitfire wins, 0-1

Despite Hooreg killing only himself with his Rocket Barrage and Nus losing his Valkyre to Babybay’s Deadeye not too long later, Spitfire was still able to hold strong against Shock’s attack, only getting half of the point. A final Self-Destruct by Fury and a final kill on Babybay’s Pharah by Bdosin’s Zenyatta sealed the deal for the Spitfire, who captured the point with a minute and a half left on the clock.

Horizon Lunar Colony: Spitfire wins, 0-1

Spitfire’s defense was just as on-point as it was on Eichenwalde, with Shock once again unable to capture first point. Spitfire, on the other hand, was lead by Fury’s D.Va and Birdring’s Widowmaker to shut down the Shock on attack and capture the win in just about two minutes and forty seconds.

Oasis: Shock wins, 2-1

Profit took out Babybay’s RIP-Tire twice on University to help break down Shock’s defense to take the first point. Shock was quick to claim first dibs on City Center, however, and despite Spitfire retaking it for a short time, eventually it was Babybay and Dhak’s teamwork on the Pharmercy combo that allowed Shock the second point capture. Shock then took Gardens, overpowering the Spitfire fight after fight to get their first map win of the week.

Junkertown: Spitfire wins, 1-2

Bdosin was on fire with 19 eliminations and 10 final blows on Spitfire’s defensive rounds as Zenyatta, according to the official live stats. The London team continued their top-tier attack next round, with Bdosin once again going off on his Zenyatta while being complimented by Profit’s Genji. Within three minutes of the map starting, the Spitfire had captured their third map of the day.

MVP: Bdosin, with his Zenyatta dealing more eliminations than some DPS in this match.

Shanghai Dragons vs Seoul Dynasty

Dynasty wins, 1-3

Numbani: Dynasty wins, 2-3

Altering’s Mercy was the “unsung hero” of the map, with the support being able to successfully push all the way until a few meters before third point. Unfortunately for them, Wekeed’s Soldier: 76 was on point throughout the entirety of the map, resulting in multiple high-kill engagements to stop Shanghai in its tracks. A surprise Ryujehong on Pharah originally didn’t play well for the Dynasty, who were surprisingly held on multiple pushes before Ryjuehong switched over to an equally-surprising Soldier: 76. He served as a distraction for Wekeed’s Genji, who was able to clean up Dynasty to start their push. With Dynasty now on a more standard composition (namely, Ryujehong being back on Zenyatta), Dynasty was able to recover from the time crunch they put themselves into thanks to the cheese in earlier rounds to take map 2-3.

Temple of Anubis: Dynasty wins, 1-2

Diya’s Genji was critical to open up Point A for the Dragons, who wiped Dynasty off the point along with Undead’s high-quality Widowmaker play. Unfortunately for them, however, Dynasty started to play more seriously as the map progressed, with Bunny’s Tracer grabbing around 25 kills and only four deaths to help Dynasty hold the Dragons to about halfway charge on the point. From there, Dynasty seemed to return to themselves, playing a more patient game than the Dragons and conserving their ultimates for the perfect moment (namely, once Dragons used their support ultimates). A nice clean-up Dragon Blade from Wekeed eventually allowed Dynasty to clean up their Attack round, closing out the map with a 1-2 scoreline.

Oasis: Dynasty wins, 1-2

The Dragons looked incredibly strong on University, denying Dynasty the point until the very last moment. Even the retake favored the Dragons, as Dynasty had invested all of their ultimates to make it happen. With a final team fight, Dragons took University for their own. Though Gardens was a bit more contested at the start, eventually it was Wekeed’s Pharah that allowed Dynasty to take the second round pretty decisively. From there, it was all Dynasty, as the team took City Center 0-100. With that, Dynasty not only took the map, but also the match.

Dorado: Dragons win, 2-1

A very-last-minute push from the Dragons allowed them to capture first point in Overtime when they had been pushed towards the start of the map for the majority of the time before that. However, in the most shocking result of the night, Seoul waited a bit too long to push the last of the way to second point and then incorrectly assumed that Shanghai wouldn’t contest at the last minute, resulting in them being unprepraed as Altering’s Mercy flew in with a boosted Diya’s Tracer to secure the payload for Shanghai. With that, Shanghai did something once thought impossible: they took a map off of Seoul, ending the series with a 1-3 loss.

MVP: Altering, for without whom the match would have been way more one-sided.

Los Angeles Valiant vs Los Angeles Gladiators

Valiant win, 3-2

Eichenwalde: Gladiators win, 1-3

The Gladiators charged into the map with an Overtime cap, thanks in part to Biggoose’s Lucio play and a misstep from SoOn’s Tracer at the very end allowing Gladiators to reclaim the armor at the end of the map. Valiant, however, targetting Biggoose on Mercy and Shaz’s Zenyatta immediately in the next round, grabbing an early advantage. However, with Surefour on a clutch Reaper and iRemiix backing him up on Winston, the Gladiators were able to repel the Valiant just 4.16 meters away from the castle’s front gate, earning the shield-wielders the first point of the series.

Horizon Lunar Colony – Gladiators win, 0-2

A surprise quad-tank with an equally as surprising flank to the right caught Valiant completely off guard, allowing Gladiators to take first point in about a minute. A return to a more “standard” composition resulted in a slow push onto the point with six minutes on the clock, but a final team push allowed the Gladiators to complete the map with 37 seconds left on the clock. A short delay due to Unkoe being beat to hacking the healthpacks because of Surefour’s Sombra put Valiant behind the clock early, which snowballed as Surefour lead the charge alongside Hydration’s Junkrat dominating the map. With that, Valiant was down another map.

Illios – Valiant wins, 2-1

The Gladiators were late to the point on Ruins, resulting in Valiant taking an early lead. SoOn’s Widowmaker kept the Gladiators at bay, resulting in Ruins going to the guys in green. The Gladiators had an equally as quick capture on Well, but this time Valiant tank EnVy couldn’t stay in the battle, being focused down by the Gladiators enough to cause punishing staggers to avoid a six-man push from Valiant most of the time. Despite a final stand from the Valiant and pushing the point charge to 69%, they were unable to hold onto it to completion, allowing Gladiators to take their first point of the map. With the final showdown on Windmill, Valiant started off with a very strong first capture, getting the charge all the way to 83% before the Gladiators could take it back. From there, it was all about individual performances: Silkthread’s Rocket Barrage out-played Agilities’ own Pharah ultimate, resulting in a failed last stand for the Gladiators on Illios.

Junkertown – Valiant wins, 4-3

Despite a late push onto first point, the Gladiators rolled through the streets of Junkertown to grab second point relatively quickly. A major misplay from Unkoe, however – with the support pulling his Valkyrie suddenly only to dash into the enemy and get killed immediately – pulled the map into Gladiator’s favor, further exploited by two double-kill Self-Destructs from Bischu. Hydration pulls off a triple-kill blade, which gave the Gladiators the go-ahead completion in Overtime. Valiant, in the meantime, took a far stronger approach, steamrolling through most of the map with far more time than what the Gladiators had. Thanks to some stall at the end – a lot due to Bischu’s D.Va coming in clutch with Self-Destructs – Valiant also ended with under a minute left, granting both teams a minute buffer.

The beginning of the end happened when Asher inexplicably walked off the side of the map accidentally, which put the Gladiators into a position they couldn’t recover from. The Gladiators fall only barely beyond the second bridge on the way to first point – something the Valiant easily captured in about a minute of play, thanks in part to EnVy’s clutch hooks as Roadhog.

Lijang Tower -Valiant wins, 2-1

On Gardens, Valiant had 99 charge early but had to fight tooth and nail for the final one percent as Hydration and Shaz tried everything they could to deny the capture. Eventually, though, the Gladiators fell on Cardens, resulting in being a round down moving into Control Center. Once again, Valiant had the first say on the point, keeping the purple crew at bay for as long as 80% until Biggoose could get a clutch Valkyrie off and get his team back into the the game. Valiant almost got that finishing percentage, but this time iRemiix blocked the majority of the overtake, putting the point back into the Gladiator’s favor. In a heat-stopping finale for the round, the Gladiators barely outplay Valiant to tie up Lijang.

Night Market was the final battleground in the fight for Los Angeles, as Valiant was quick to dive on Gladiators’ supports to grab first dibs on the point. Despite a legendary stall from the enemy, it was SoOn’s Tracer that led the final charge for the Valiant, with the Gladiators simply running out of gas in the final round. The Valiant would take the hardest-fought match of the day, reverse sweeping the Gladiators.

MVP: SoOn, for being the clutch DPS that Valiant needed to take home the win in the Battle of Los Angeles.

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With that, the Shock drop down to tie with the Gladiators in the lower half of the standings while Spitfire and Dynasty remain perfect and the kings of OWL. Valiant improves to taking fourth place, by themselves in the 3-2 record spot while the Dragons remain at the bottom with an 0-5 record.

Tomorrow, the Uprising take on the Spitfire first, followed by the Fusion vs NYXL, then the Outlaws vs Mayhem.